Crossing Streams
by Zero Harmony
Summary: When he notices Blaze acting oddly, Silver becomes caught up in the schemes of a mysterious menace as his powers are burgeoning to new levels. In the end, he has only his will to rely upon. Rated for violence, cursing, and suggestive themes.
1. The Flames of Disaster

**Author Note: Behold, the reason (beside writer's block) I haven't updated Underground Superstars in forever. A more, dare I say it, "literature" story. More accurately, an experiment with a serious short story that includes things like "motifs", "themes", and "Dramatic Irony". Finally, I think Silver has failed to get a really good story from anyone. Including SEGA. I'll admit to not drawing up much sympathy for the character, and so in an attempt to make him a story, I got this.**** With that out of the way, I hope you readers feel this worthy of a serious, constructively critical review. Enjoy!**

**This story follows current game canon about Silver as closely as possible. It also assumes that The Eggman Nega from the Rush series is different from the Rivals series one, for the sake of convenience.  
**

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Chapter 1: The Flames of Disaster

"Come on, live it up! We just won, remember?" Sonic said. Silver nodded vacantly and began to tap his feet to the raucous old-style music that was playing. They had just stopped the plans of Eggmen from present, past, and even a parallel dimension. The battle had raged near nonstop for a week, across the entire length of the U.F. and had finally ended with the Eggmen's final battle ship sinking into the sea and the three Eggmen being held in the past's most secure prison.

After such a grueling battle, it was only right to celebrate.

Tails, Cream, and the rest of the younger kids were having a sleepover at Vanilla's, with Vector eagerly joining in to help chaperone, meanwhile the "big kids" were enjoying themselves with a private beach party. They had a small shore side hotel to themselves and filled the back patio with food, lights, and some of the loudest music Silver had ever heard.

"Come on, Sonic, you've danced with all the other girls twice!" Sonic, though influenced by his hydrophobia, had agreed to the idea mostly under the promise of girls in swimsuits. Amy was quick to pick up on this fact and had dressed to please.

She was a cute girl, and very energetic, but her undying dedication to Sonic left Silver doubtful of her sanity. Rouge the Bat was apparently trying to provoke a fight between Knuckles and Shadow, but both seemed utterly oblivious to her flirting. Espio was standing in a corner, sipping from a cup of soda and occasionally twitching at the more questionable lyrics. This left the last member of the party, Blaze.

The purple cat had come from the parallel dimension (and apparently was a princess in it), and during the battle had kept a serious and stone faced demeanor about her. Tonight, however, she was the life of the party. Dressed up in a two piece swimsuit and dancing in a very un-princess-like manner, she managed the amazing feat of being the only thing to attract Espio's attention other than his drink.

"Come on, you haven't danced all night." Suddenly Silver found Blaze dragging him by the arm into the center of the patio. Shamefully, Silver was not a good dancer by any century's standard, and was at a complete loss of what to do besides try and copy his partner.

As the previous song faded out, someone quickly flipped the old-style audio discs. Something sounding like classical Techno started playing, and Silver felt himself relax as he began to actually enjoy the music. As the pair danced, Silver noticed Sonic whispering to Knuckles, both of them looking at Silver and Blaze with puzzled expressions. Whatever Sonic said left Knuckles nodding very slowly. Some of the lyrics made Blaze giggle and pat Silver on the head.

"I know someone who can change the past." She said.

"Um, I don't actually think that's how time travel works." Silver said. _Wrong reply!_ Silver's mind screamed. Knowing no other choice, the time traveler was forced to explain himself. "You see, if going back in time could change the past, you'd end up changing everything that caused you to go back in time. If you suddenly stopped having been in the past, the changes you made would never have happened, and it'd go back to the way it was before, but that just ends up with you going back in time again." Silver personally viewed time as a loop, and that going back wouldn't actually change the present. Still he found himself bringing the explanation to its logical end. "To actually change anything you'd need to be unaffected by the changes you made when time traveling, sort of like creating an alternate timeline."

"Clever boy." Blaze said, smiling like he was a windup toy that had just served its function.

"Hey, I'm not just all brains, you know." Silver replied. Blaze replied with a playful snarl.

"That so? Why don't we meet after this is over so I can see what you mean? I didn't really get to see you during the battle." With that Blaze drifted away as suddenly as she had come. While his first thought was that she just wanted to see the actual limits of his power, the post- pubescent boy in him thought about something else entirely. He quickly dismissed the thoughts as ridiculous with a shake of his head.

Silver walked over to the food table and poured himself a new drink. As he did so Sonic shuffled over and began talking to him.

"Hey, can you read minds?"

"What?" Silver said in surprise.

"It's just, being psychic and all..."

"No. I'm only telekinetic. Lifting stuff and all."

"Ah. The thing is, not sure if you'd know this but, Blaze has been acting... Oddly all night."

"Really?" Silver asked.

"Yeah she's usually really uptight." They both glanced over to where Blaze was dancing with Rouge. "Really uptight."

"Sonic!"

"Bye" the blue hedgehog said and dashed off as quickly as possible, leaving Silver in Amy's grasp. He apologized for having become a makeshift barricade, and the two actually ended up sharing a rather enjoyable dance up until the point where Amy suddenly broke off as Sonic tried to slip past. The party continued on it as it had, with Blaze always managing to avoid him, and Sonic not commenting on her again. The energy that fueled the evening gradually ran out, and everyone slowly drifted inside. Silver followed at the back of the progression, waiting until everyone was in to turn around and head back out.

Blaze was waiting for him on the beach, arms hanging behind her back.

"Hey." Silver said as he came close. Blaze turned around and grinned. "You ready?"

"Yep." Blaze said. Before Silver could react he was in her arms and her lips were pressing onto his. Silver started to resist, but hormones took over and he gave in. With a shudder of their legs the pair collapsed onto the ground. The sheer shock of what was happening made Silver oblivious to the heat as flames began to lick up on Blaze's back.

OOOOOOOOOO

"Please?" Amy said. "No one's going to catch us, you don't even have to say you did it."

"No." Sonic said slowly. "I'm tired, it's dark, and you've been harassing me all night!" with that he slammed the door to his room shut and dead-bolted it.

"...I just wanted one dance..." Amy whispered. Even as part of her screamed to keep trying, her shoulders sank and she walked away. She needed to give up. It was like a drug.

Amy shook her head of the negative thoughts. She decided to walk on the beach to clear her mind. That's what she really needed.

OOOOOOOOOO

"Ah." Silver winced as he grabbed at Blaze's back and his fingers were burnt. He opened his eyes to see what had caused it. The hedgehog's eyes widened as he saw the flames on Blaze's back spread around her body. He realized that the sweat on him was actually from the heat of her flames. He broke the kiss and tried to push her away.

"Blaze! Your flames!" Silver yelled as he found her grip to be too strong for him. She slowly opened her eyes and snarled at him. It only sounded like the voice of a predator before it pounced on its prey. Silver screamed.

There was a flash of bright pink and a harsh cracking sound. Blaze went tumbling across the sand, flames abruptly gone out. Silver glanced over to see Amy standing over him, hammer in hands, eyes wide as if she too was surprised.

"Is she okay?" Amy said.

"You're the one that hit her." Silver exclaimed as he stood up.

"I was just trying to get her off, I didn't mean to hit so hard." Silver went over to Blaze and quickly checked her breathing.

"She's only unconscious. We need to get her inside." Silver said. He used his power to gently lift Blaze up, while Amy stood by in case the cat fell. They had no time to question each other because their comrades were already coming out of the hotel to watch the spectacle, and they stood aside to let Silver and Blaze pass. Silver set her down on one of the lobby's couches and took a seat.

"What happened?" Sonic asked. "All I saw was Amy hitting Blaze, I didn't even know you were involved."

"Why were you looking outside in the first place?" Amy asked.

"I... kind of felt bad for yelling at you." Sonic admitted. There were a few seconds of silence before Shadow interrupted.

"We still don't know what happened." Silver nodded, biting his lip.

"Blaze had told me she wanted to see my abilities after the party." He said.

"Really?" Rouge said.

"Yeah. And when I went to meet her she just grabbed me and started..." Silver sucked in to stop the blood flowing to his cheeks. "Kissing." Everybody's eyes rose at that one. Silver rubbed the back of his head. "I kind of got... Caught up in things. I didn't- She- She started using her flames, and when I realized it I tried to get her off but she was too strong, and-" Silver bowed his head. "When I tried to tell her to stop she just snarled at me. And then Amy hit her."

"Is she alright?" Knuckles asked.

"She's in a coma." Silver said automatically. "Her mind's weak right now, and it wasn't caused by Amy." He looked up to see everyone staring at him.

"There is no way you could determine that." Espio said.

"I thought you said you couldn't read minds?" Sonic asked.

"That can't be it." Silver said. "It's perfectly logical; Amy didn't hit her that hard, it wasn't in the head-"

"Silver, how did you know she was in a coma?" Shadow asked. "Not even the best doctors could make a call like that after just seeing her."

"It might have something to do with why Blaze was acting so oddly." Sonic said. "Maybe Silver knows something he isn't telling us?"

"I don't know how I know that, okay? I might just be able to read minds suddenly." Silver said. "Look, I'll try it right now, and if it works that will explain things." he put his hand on Blaze's head and willed himself to see her thoughts.

_This can't possibly work._

_

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**Disclaimer: All characters belong to SEGA.**  
_


	2. What Darkness Lies in the Hearts of Men

Chapter 2: What Darkness Lies In The Hearts of Men

"I'm afraid I can't let you go any farther, Young Silver." A voice said. It was calm yet sinister, and Silver turned to see Sonic standing and pulling out a combat knife from behind him.

"What?" Silver said. He backed up, only to find another knife at his back. He twisted around to see Amy holding the same knife Sonic had. She opened her mouth and revealed herself as the speaker. From her mouth it sounded utterly guttural.

"Simply, I need to keep you here."

"Why?" Silver glanced around. The others were all standing, and holding the same knife as Sonic and Amy. They opened their mouths, but only one voice came out with no source.

"Because the surface is the easiest level to operate on."

"What do you mean? I wasn't even going anywhere." Someone grabbed his shoulder and pressed the edge of a knife to his throat. Silver stiffened and tried to suck in his throat. This time the voice came from behind.

"Don't be ridiculous. You were trying to dig deeper into Blaze's mind. Letting you do that would just be unnecessary work." Silver twisted around to see who was holding him.

It was Blaze, yet Silver somehow knew Blaze was still in her coma.

"What's happening?" Silver said.

"Let me give you a clue." The voice said in Silver's mind.

Blaze slit his throat.

The whole city was engulfed in flames. Silver found himself in the relative safety of a skyscraper's roof as the city below him was engulfed by rivers of lava. Silver was pulled up by his long quills and felt the pain of his throat being slit again.

He was left to fall on the ground, and this time he recognized where he was. He was in his home town in the present, his time. He gave a sigh of relief. Maybe it was all just a-

Once again he was picked up and had his throat slit. Now the city burned like it had when Nega attacked it with the Ifrit. Another slit throat and the city was back to normal.

The hand let go and Silver fell to the ground, instinctively grabbing at his throat. It was pointless, though, because he had already realized something. The things happening were all so impossible.

"This is all in my mind." He said.

"You're pretty good." The voice said. Blaze walked in front of him, this time covered in some undefined black suit. "Most would take forever to figure it out. Of course, most would simply die of shock when I made them think their throat was slit."

"We're in Blaze's mind, aren't we?"

"You're even smarter than I thought, Young Silver. I'll admit it took me ages to figure out even this much when I started. Yes, you are a mind reader."

"How did this happen?" Silver felt his anger rising. Things were out of control, and there was nothing he could do. "I've always been just a telekinetic."

"Really, this just a much finer level of control brought about by our connection with the Chaos Emeralds. We grab electrical patterns from a person's mind and interpret it in our own." Blaze reached up and used her fingers to push her mouth into a smile. "Or we can rearrange the patterns according to our wishes."

"What would changing someone thoughts do?" Silver demanded. He tried to attack the image of Blaze, but it simply disappeared and reappeared behind him, shaking its head.

"And you were following so well. Our actions come from our personalities, and our personalities are nothing but a combination of our genetically derived instincts and our experiences. The power to change someone's thoughts is the power to control their mind."

"You were controlling Blaze." Silver exclaimed. He swung his fist at the image of Blaze, but it disappeared again.

"Yes." The voice said. "My will is powerful, and the friends you have surrounded yourself with will easily fall before me, and with only one I can easily kill the entirety of the world's heroes, leaving it defenseless." the image of Blaze reappeared still clutching the knife, this time a few feet away from Silver "I'm afraid there's nothing you can do to stop me."

"You already told me we have the same power." Silver, steeling himself into a fighting pose.

"Same _abilities_, yes, but nowhere near the same level of power." The voice replied. "In your current state there's almost nothing you can do. Unless, of course, you let me unlock your full potential."

"I'd never side with you." Silver yelled.

"Naive Young Silver, you remind me a lot of myself. I'm not offering this to get your help; I'm offering this to destroy you." The image of Blaze spread its arms wide and raised its voice. "You'll feel the thoughts of everyone miles away. The thoughts of everyone in this city alone will be enough to drive you mad in a deluge of never ending cacophonies."

Silver narrowed his eyes and looked straight at the image, lowering his arms.

"Do your worst." Silver said. The image of Blaze grinned and brought the knife down through his forehead.

OOOOOOOOOO

**Let me tell you a story.**

_He could see everything._

**There once was a boy who could read minds**

_He felt everything._

**He came from a distant place, a land consumed by death and despair**

_He was everything._

**He finally fled that land for good, and came to this place**

_A tempest of clashing images and sensations engulfed the mind._

**He was alone here, without even his one friend from his childhood.**

_The joy and thrill of a child watching the stars. The depression of a man with only a box to call home._

**His heart was filled with sorrow, but his mind was dedicated to the good he never saw as a child**

_The pain of a dying man. The passion of two lovers._

**He used his powers to hunt evil-doers; madmen and murders, showing them to this land's guardians and finding why they did what they did**

_The sights of Maria dying before him and Metal Sonic grabbing at him were split by a black line_

**But one day, with one killer, the boy dug too deep, and the killer had prepared himself for his meeting with the boy**

_Who am I?_

**The boy took everything from the killer, every memory and thought**

_More black lines appeared in the space between memories_

**They subsumed him! He lost who he was, and his sorrow was twisted into hatred for this world**

_The darkness formed the image of a skeletal man, stalking towards him. As the figure became closer, its substance became clear as darkness-filled memories._

**Likewise I will consume you, Young Silver, and forge another tool of my vengeance**

"NO!" Silver screamed. The dark man had said too much, given the...

White...

Hedgehog...

Every memory was impossible to grasp onto, but Silver did so anyways, and slowly built himself back up. His naked body was flat on a non-existent surface, with the torrent of thoughts pouring around and piercing through him and tearing him apart.

He needed to control himself.

**You never will**

Where were his gloves?

**Insignificant!**

He needed his gloves!

**Why?**

But this was his mind...

**They mean nothing** The black figure stalked closer and closer.

With a grunt of effort Silver pulled on the first boot. Immediately the memories behind Silver disappeared, replaced by a green purity.

Silver pulled on the second boot and the sensations to his left were gone.

Silver pulled on his first glove, and the thoughts to his right were blocked out.

Silver pulled on his last glove with a crisp snap and threw his hand forward, dispelling the rest of the absorbed memories. Only the black figure remained, bracing itself against the torrent of power.

**How!**

"The same way I control my telekinesis." Silver said, glaring at the dark memories that tried to engulf him with their hatred. "You said yourself that it's the same thing."

**You'll never rid yourself of me**

"I wasn't planning to." Silver said. With a yelp he jumped forward and punched his fist through the black figure's head.

A ruined warehouse.

A silent figure, its shape uncertain, tracing its finger on the floor.

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**_Disclaimer: Characters belong to SEGA. Some back story belongs to Hideo Kojima and KONAMI as a whole. _**


	3. Seperate Wills

Chapter 3: Separate Wills

"Silver? Silver! Siiilveeeeeer!" Silver's eyes snapped open to the sound of Sonic's yelling. The blue hedgehog noticed immediately. "Are you okay?"

"The owner of the hotel keeps a shotgun under his desk. Take it out and break it." Silver said. Shadow turned to do it, but Silver stopped him with his telekinesis. "Not you. It needs to be Sonic."

The blue hedgehog carefully stood up and walked over to the desk, took out the gun and paused to inspect it. With one sharp motion he broke it in half on his knee and threw the pieces to the floor.

"Now, why did I do that?" Sonic asked, looking back up at Silver, who let go of his hold on Shadow."

"To prove you were yourself. A telepath took over Blaze's mind and has now attacked me twice. And before you ask, I am telepath too." Silver said.

"You're kidding me." Knuckles said. "Mind readers? That's ridiculous."

"Says the man who spends his time guarding a giant rock." Rouge replied, making Knuckles glare at her.

"If it were true, it would provide a good justification for Blaze's unusual behavior." Shadow said.

"And why she attacked Silver." Amy said.

"If our enemy could control Blaze's actions, what is keeping us safe?" Espio asked.

"Me." Silver said. "He attacked me first because I was the only person here able to stop him. If I wasn't a threat he wouldn't have needed to go at me before anyone else."

"Great. How do we find him?" Sonic asked. Silver could already see the way the blue hedgehog's muscles were tensing and his face betrayed his desperate need to leave.

"I managed to reach into his mind. He's hiding himself in an abandoned warehouse. All we have to do is find that."

"Did you see anything else about it?" Espio asked.

"I... Think it said 'glue' on the front." Silver replied. Espio slipped over to the hotel's desk computer and began typing rapidly. There was a pause and then the sound of a few mouse clicks.

"Acme Glue Company warehouse is the only likely place. I can lead us there." Espio finally said.

"What about Blaze." Amy asked.

"We need to take her with us to keep an eye on her." Silver said. "We don't want the enemy to catch us unprepared a second time. Can you carry her?"

"I think..." Amy said.

"Then do that. Everyone stay close to me until we get there. Lead the way, Espio." The motley team trailed out of the hotel and into the street. Surprisingly, Sonic and Shadow hung to the back.

"What's wrong?" Shadow whispered.

"What do you mean?" Sonic said.

"You look nervous, something extremely rare for you." Sonic glanced away.

"It's just," Sonic looked back to the grey-white hedgehog that had suddenly taken charge of things. "Have you ever thought about it? How dangerous Silver could be if he really tried?"

"Don't worry yourself." Shadow said.

As they walked down the streets, Silver began to feel like part of a mob hunting down someone they didn't truly understand. All they were missing was torches and pitchforks. The scariest thing was that he was the mind behind it.

"Shouldn't we call the others?" Knuckles asked into the silence.

"Leave them be." Silver said. "They don't need to get involved." Knuckles fell silent, and Rouge started to whistle half-heartedly, occasionally dropping out entirely. Eventually she gave up and total silence reigned throughout the night drenched city once more.

They came to a building with imprints where letters once were bolted on, and every window on it was broken.

"This is it." Espio said. Knuckles smashed through the boarded up door and stepped aside to let them through. The mob walked through the dark expanse of the empty warehouse. They saw only a single light, and unconsciously walked towards it. Only a few yards in they found the one they were hunting. The figure was taller than anyone else there, obviously an adult, and aside from the shape of his snout nothing else could be determined about him. His body was covered in bizarre leather armor and his head covered by black cloth wrapped around it. If he noticed their entrance, he showed no sign of it, and simply continued his idle tracing on the floor. Knuckles leapt forward to challenge.

"Alright you freak, show yourself now." He yelled.

"Why?" Knuckles stumbled back as the enemy spoke, utterly surprised by the simple response. "We've all met before. Except the chameleon, but I don't think that matters much." The man's voice was higher than normal, and he spoke with an eerie nonchalant disregard for the situation. "It's a pity so few of us can remember that moment."

"No." Shadow was the only one who heard Sonic's fearful muttering, and his eyes turned to see the blue hedgehog shivering and readying himself to run _away_ from the mysterious enemy.

"But, since you asked, I feel I must comply with your wishes." The figure said as it took its hand away from its tracings and slowly unwound the black mask over his features.

Silver blanched in shock at his revealed enemy. He was at least ten years older, his quills had been hacked short and hung limp, and the black around his eyes had shrunk. In everything that mattered he was a perfect mirror image. Sonic was the one who confirmed it.

"Silver." he yelled. The figure smirked sarcastically.

"Shall you tell them or should I?" The other Silver said. Sonic twitched his lips. "I will, then. It was a god we fought, a sun god driven to complete madness that was devouring all of time. Sonic, Shadow and I fought it together and when it fell I used the power of Chaos within me and flew back to my own time, and guess what I found?" No one answered, but Silver shivered as he realized what was coming. "It was gone! Everything I lived and fought for had been replaced by shimmering glass and joyful morons. There was even a specific moron that was me." The old Silver's hand lifted up to point at the young Silver. "In my shock I drew upon the last of the emerald's power to find what had happened." His hand drifted ever so barely to point at Sonic. "I saw you. I saw you and that human b itch of yours destroy Solaris. Don't bother trying to excuse yourself. You knew what you were doing. You probably didn't let her escape the changes wrought either. You're the only one left who remembers, right? But you didn't think of me. And now, after ten years of waiting, we meet again. I beat you last time, when I was naive. What could you hope to do now?"

"Forget him." Knuckles barked. "I'll turn you into paste." He began to charge forward, and the old Silver sighed and lowered his head.

"You, a guardian who has failed his duty every time?" The old Silver said. Knuckles stumbled and fell flat on the ground, groaning in some sort of pain. Shadow started to step forward.

"Chaos-" The black hedgehog began.

"Please." The old Silver said. "Maria would weep if she saw half the things you've done in her name." Shadow's throat rumbled harshly until he finally broke into tears and collapsed onto his knees. Rouge leaned back to attack.

"Oh, you're here. What grand purpose do you stand for exactly?" Rouge trembled and straightened herself, hugging her body tight and whispering to herself. Amy laid Blaze down on the floor and pulled out her hammer.

"Your insane." she growled.

"Look at yourself." The old Silver said. "Obsessed with a man who does everything in his power to get away from you. He doesn't even want another hedgehog." Amy shivered. Hadn't this Silver talked about a human being with Sonic?

"Really?" she asked. The old Silver stopped his tracing and looked her in the face.

"Yes." He said. Amy's hand flew to her face as she started to cry in fear. Sonic seemed to reach out and try to catch as she collapsed on the ground. A green outline of an arm holding a knife appeared behind the old Silver.

"And you:" The pale-furred psychic said. "You're just worthless." The outline twisted violently and Espio collapsed to the ground behind the old Silver. "Who is left now?" The young Silver gritted his teeth and clenched his fists.

"I know I can stop you." Silver said. "You wouldn't have attacked me if I wasn't a threat."

"As if. I chose you first because you were even more gullible than I ever was: the perfect person to set my trap with." The old Silver said.

"A trap?"

"A trap within a trap within a trap. As you overcame one part of my plan you were simply drawn closer to me and the full extent of my powers."

The younger was about to reply when Sonic's gloved hand cut him off.

"This battle is between us." Sonic said he lowered his hand stepped forward to line himself up in front of the old Silver. "I know you held back last time. You didn't want to kill even though you thought it would save the world."

"That was a me ten years younger." The old Silver said.

"I know." Sonic said. "That's why I won't hold back either." Sonic pulled out a purple Chaos Emerald from behind him. "Ch-" He tried to say it as fast as possible, but Sonic found his mouth clamping shut.

"Your will is unyielding, Sonic, but your body is too weak." The old Silver said. Sonic's head began quivering. "Now I can finally finish what I set out to do all those years ago." The old Silver went back to his tracing on the floor. "I dare say I will enjoy this." Sonic fell on the ground. "What?" The old Silver did his best to show no surprise, but he couldn't stop his eyes from narrowing.

"It's not over yet." The young Silver said, stepping forward. The glow that had held Sonic's jaw was being forced back to the old Silver.

"It seems I underestimated your determination, Young Silver." The glow quivered and stopped halfway between the two Silvers. "At this rate your allies will be able to recover even if I win."

"I won't let you." Young Silver yelled, even as he glanced at his fallen friends to see if they were recovering. Sonic was clutching his face as he crawled over to Amy.

"You seem to misunderstand me. At this point I have already lost the battle. All that is left is to retreat and craft a new plan."

"Then I will win." Young Silver said in a nearly silent whisper. The old Silver's eyes twitched wide. The glow held between the two hedgehogs trembled towards the elder. "Your power comes from your mind, from your will." The old Silver threw out his arms and clenched his hands to counter his opponent's surge of power. "You've already given up. Running when you could stand and fight." The older Silver scrambled to his feet and threw his other arm up as the glow nearly reached him. It stopped just short of him. "And I will never give up!" Young Silver roared. The glow slammed into the old Silver's head and sank through, Young Silver's mental assault going in with it. The old Silver's eyes rolled back in his head and he screamed.

The heroes scattered across the warehouse floor lifted their heads from the floor to watch their foe. The old Silver's scream cut short just as suddenly as it began as he collapsed back onto the ground. Sonic stood up and walked over behind the young Silver, looking down on his old foe and ally. The bottom of the old Silver's feet began to glow, and as the yellow glow started to climb up his body the bottom began to dissolve into scattered sparkles.

"He wasn't supposed to be here." Sonic said.

The old Silver's body was beginning to float off the ground as his torso began to dissolve.

"I guess the time stream is trying to correct itself, pulling him back to his own timeline." Sonic continued.

Everything that was left of the old Silver was glowing as he reached the roof of the warehouse.

"I never could understand what he was fighting for, and now I never will. I wish it didn't have to have happened like this." Sonic bowed his head and shook it.

Silver was the only one who saw the other Silver smile as his head reached the roof, and Silver winked in return. The head exploded in a sudden shockwave of light, and the light of the dawning sun poured through the warehouse's missing windows.

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**_Disclaimer: Characters belong to SEGA._**


	4. Waking Up

**Author Note: Here's the end. Hope you liked it.**

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Chapter 4: Waking Up

Silver walked out onto the beach where Blaze was waiting for him. She had spent most of the day resting in a local hospital and had only woken up a few hours ago, receiving a brief summary of what had happened before being let. Her friends had left out the paradoxical identity of the psychic, deciding that she didn't need to know about it. The first thing she had asked for after eating and changing was to talk to Silver.

"Hey." Silver said weakly. He was still physically and mentally exhausted from the previous night, and found himself unable to summon the same energy he used to fall back upon endlessly.

"Hello." Blaze said. She was back in her usual clothes, a purple coat and white pants. She kept her eyes set on the sea as Silver walked up next to her. She bowed her head and closed her eyes when she finally continued talking. "I... Just wanted to thank you for saving me. I felt so weak when that psychic attacked my mind and took me over. It was like-" Blaze's words hitched in her mouth. "You already know what I mean, don't you?" She finally said.

"No." Silver said bluntly, nearly in offense. "I spent most of today strengthening the mental trigger for reading minds. By this point I need both hands in contact with someone to use my telepathy on them." Silver looked down at his hands. "This power isn't right." He looked back at Blaze, who was biting her lip.

"It felt like he was violating me." She whispered. Silver frowned. He hadn't thought that much about how Blaze had been affected by the attack, and even then he didn't fully understand what she meant. "He told me he was you." Blaze said. Silver froze. He had known this was coming ever since he had torn into the other Silver's mind. "He said he was going to show himself, and then showed me an image of you. I didn't believe him." Blaze said, looking up at Silver. "Even when he made me throw myself at you. You would never do that." She looked away. "I'm sorry that you ended up killing him. I know you wouldn't do so on purpose."

"He's not dead." Silver said automatically. Blaze's head spun around to look at him in shock. "He used the power from Sonic's and Shadow's emeralds to go to a different dimension."

"You let him get away?" Blaze said, rage building behind her eyes.

"I had stopped him." Silver said. "I took away his anger and sorrow and gave him hope again. Should I have tried to kill him or give him up to this time's G.U.N.? The one that is historically noted for corruption? Besides, I'm sure where he's going will be able to stop him."

"Where is he headed?"

"To find an old friend."

"That can't be it."

"What could be more important to him?" Blaze shook her head.

"Your so naive." she said. "I think that's what I like about you."

OOOOOOOOOOO

_ In the depth of the old one's mind Silver was surrounded by fire. Everything around him was wasted ruins, and rivers of lava flowed below the ledge he was on. This was the world that the other Silver had come from, a waking nightmare he had spent every day growing up in. A pillar of flame shot out of the darkness, and Silver threw out his hand to stop it with a quick wall of energy. He saw something ahead, and began to walk towards it. _

_ The dark memories in the shape of a man jumped down from above to stop him, and Silver tore them apart without a thought. The old Silver in his leather armor and mask rose from the ground, but Silver threw him away without breaking stride. He finally reached where he was headed and the horror around him faded into whiteness. The other Silver was sitting on the ground, naked and curled up with his arms wrapped around his knees. He looked Silver's age now, with his hair long and upright. The old Silver was crying. _

_ "It's not fair." The old Silver screamed. "I was just a kid. I was just a kid god damn it!" He slammed his fist on the ground as he sobbed louder. "No one gives a damn about me." His head jerked up and looked at Silver, tears streaming from his eyes. "Blaze doesn't even remember me. I showed myself to her and she didn't even recognize me. No one gives a damn!" _

_ "Silver," The young Silver said. "She's from a different dimension." The other Silver paused his crying._

_ "Really?" He whispered. Had he not seen that when he was in her mind? The young Silver saw an image of Blaze, drawing demonic flames into her chest and dissolving into light. _

_ "Yes." Young Silver said. "A pyrokinetic from a long line of pyrokintecs, named for its founder." He felt horrible for taking that from Blaze's mind, but he knew it was the key to purifying the old Silver infused with the memories of a madman. The old Silver smiled._

_ "Thank you." He whispered. "__**You're giving up? Just with that?**__" The dark memories returned, taking no shape. The old Silver stood up and turned to face them, slipping on his old gloves and boots. "No." He said. "I'm beating you."_

OOOOOOOOOO

From the bedroom's terrace, Blaze looked out over the lands that had somehow become hers as the sun sank below them. It had been ten years since she had come to this dimension to seal away Iblis, and she barely remembered her life in the flame-rent wasteland. She tried though, everyday remembering the friend she left behind.

It was hard though, when in the first five minutes of your new life you accidentally kill someone and are deemed the new queen. It had been hard taking up that much authority, but when she saw the mess that her predecessor had left the country in, she lost any doubt in her abilities and got to work building up the country until it was one of the most powerful in the world. She only wished her friend was here.

"Um, Hey?" A strange voice said next to her. Blaze turned around to face its source and stumbled away in shock, nearly falling over the terrace's edge.

"Silver?" She yelled. Her old friend was floating next to the terrace, bathed in the familiar cyan glow. He had changed as much as she had, with his quills cut short and hanging down around his head. His old gloves and boots had been replaced by strapped on leather ones, more inconspicuous apparel for the time they were in.

Silver gave her a weak smile. He had thrown off most of his outfit in the forest he first appeared in, and spent the better part of a week finding out what had happened to his childhood friend. Somehow the idea of Blaze ruling a country seemed entirely natural to Silver.

"Hi Blaze." Silver said. "I'm back."

The old friends smiled and cried and laughed as they caught each other in a tight hug.

* * *

**_Disclaimer: Characters belong to SEGA. Some character placement is drawn from the works of Dragonbreath1__, that have regrettably been removed for reasons I do not know. _**


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